James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

CG Art

Contact

or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

Permissions

All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Here's a drawing I did of dappled summer light on a farmhouse, done in graphite pencil and gray watercolor wash.

This is a very traditional way to sketch, a tried and true technique. And it's a technique that I would recommend for beginners who want to ease into water media, or anyone who doesn't want to carry a lot of stuff. All you need is a little jar of water, a rag or paper towel, a paintbrush, and a couple of graphite pencils, maybe an HB and a 2B, and an eraser.

There are many ways to approach pencil and wash, but I like to use the wash for tones up to about a 40% gray where I need flatness of tone, such as a sky or the shadow side of a building. The parts of the building that you leave white really pop this way.

With the regular graphite pencils, you should be able to add the washes over the pencil without disturbing it, so you can do the pencil drawing first. But I tend to do a light but accurate layin and then add the washes, and when they're dry, I add the darker and softer pencil strokes.

Rendering of a proposed dining room by Otto Eggers from Guptill's book.

As for the surface, drawing (or cartridge) paper tends to buckle if you add anything more than a few light washes. If your washes are large or wet, you might want to use Bristol board or a watercolor sketchbook.

I have two questions for you, one of which Matthew already asked, regarding the wash. Can you talk a bit more about this step, perhaps in a future post? Maybe another classic time-lapsed video with Gurney Lego-Time-Clock-Vision™ =)

Secondly, I notice the top sketch is from 2001. Do you look back on your earlier work with a critical eye, noticing errors or omissions the younger you made? (I don't notice any on your pieces, but I do find much of my older work unsatisfactory)

This type of tonal exercise seems such an important skill for setting up more finished works, but each one stands on its own as art.

Matthew, the wash color is just lampblack cake watercolor thinned down with water. At the time I think I premixed a tone and took it around in a little plastic jar.

Aljoša, thanks for mentioning Derwent's line, which works great for giving pencil that watercolor look.

Thanks, Terry,

Tyler, I think I added the wash midway in the picture, after I had established the basic framework. As for earlier sketches, they're a mixed lot, some better than others, but what strikes me is that I go through personal fads for certain technical tools. So everything from one period might be pencil, and from another period watercolor pencil, and then gouache.

This reminds me of something I recently found out about. You could also use turpenoid to melt graphite and it turns it into a waterproof wash. Sometimes I make a pencil tonal drawing and then use turpenoid to melt the graphite into liquid washes. Then when it's dry and waterproof I cover it with transparent acrylic washes of color and the graphite doesn't mix with the acrylic. It's kind of an easy way to make a colored painting.

The two Guptill books mentioned are the very core of my drawing library. I learned from them as a child hanging out in my father's architectural studio. Still have them all these years later and still learn something every time I open one of them. Rendering with Pen and Ink is also a good one!!

For those interested in either water soluble graphite or using OMS with graphite, try ArtGraf water soluble graphite. It's delicious!!

I'm new to this method and have a few questions about your process on True North. 1) What did you use for the darkest lines (around the chickens and under the roof, for example)? 2) You mentioned carrying water and a pre-mixed tone. Did you lay down multiple washes over the same shadowed areas to get darker values or did you mix your premixed tone with different amounts of water on a palette to get value onto the paper in roughly one go? 3) Do you lay down the lightest wash tones first?

Good questions. I think I used a soft pencil for the dark lines--maybe 2B. They look darker in the photo. I believe I had two values of gray tone premixed, plus water. I probably laid down the lighter tones first, then the darker ones.